DUIs are a huge deal. A single DUI will bring the career of most truckers to a screeching halt. But this trucker received alcohol-related citations at least 5 separate times before the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration decided to officially pull the plug and take him out of service.
FMCSA officials declared the California-based trucker an imminent hazard to public safety on March 25th after an incident when he was stopped by Illinois State Police and blew a .308 into a breathalyzer. That’s almost 4 times the legal limit. He was also cited for possession of an intoxicating beverage while driving, illegal transportation of alcohol, driving with a suspended license, not having a current log book, and illegal lane usage. He was released after posting $3,000.
But this was far from his first strike. In 2012, the driver had his commercial drivers license suspended for eight months after he refused a breathalyzer test. This should have taken him off the road, but instead, just one month later, he was pulled over and again refused a breathalyzer test, resulting in a 15-month suspension.
The driver’s DUI problems stretch back until at least 2007 when his CDL was suspended after he was found guilty by the state of Massachusetts on multiple counts of driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs while operating a CMV.
The most recent out-of-service notice stated that the driver is “unwilling or unable to cease operating a commercial motor vehicle while using alcohol,” and that his “…continued operation of a commercial motor vehicle…puts the motoring public at imminent risk for serious bodily injury or death if not discontinued immediately.”
In addition to being banned from driving commercial motor vehicles, the driver may also face a whole host of civil penalties and criminal charges which can be brought against him for ignoring the FMCSA’s previous out-of-service orders.
Source: overdrive, fleetowner, fmcsa, effinghamdailynews, thetrucker
The level for BAC is .04 so this driver was 7.7 times higher. https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration/commercial-drivers-license/states
About Time someone Divided it the Right Way. and I’m Surprised the Trucker didn’t Die from Alcohol Poisoning. Thank God He’s off the ROAD !
Look at it again Mike…. The guy registered a .308, not .0308. That’s pritty wasted, at .40 they might take you to the hospital and start using drugs to sober you up.
A 100lb individual would register.40 after 10 to 12 drinks in rapid consumption.
Someone who is an alcoholic with increased tolerance can have that high of a BAC & barely act intoxicated. I think that the person who wrote the article was using the State’s definition of .08% for drivers of non-commercial vehicles.
Actually, the BAC level, even though it isn’t by much, differs in each state. Here in AZ it is .08.
Incredible that anyone would hire him.
Probably an independent O/O.
Werner reject or other bottom feeder
So if I drive my car drunk I get a lengthy jail sentence but if I drive my semi drunk I get my license suspended for a few months and continue on with my bad, irresponsible ways?
no, this guy seems not to care whether or not he was drunk or sober or the fact that his license had been suspended or even revoked. He just said screw it ,I’m driving anyway.
Obviously suspending his CDL hasn’t got his attention. Perhaps a couple years in jail and very stiff fines will.
The FMCSA keeps pushing more strict regulations and all kinds of stupid BS (elogs and speed limiters) yet they can’t seem to keep the egregious bad apples in check. I think they need to be mandated a refocus of energy by congress.
yeah. they should be refocused to the classified ads in the jobs section of the newspaper. they have made it more dangerous and more regulated. and as proven here,useless.
I agree…alcohol kills so many on the highways every year and I don’t know why penalties for DUI are so weak. Drunk in a big truck should get you six months in the slammer…NO EXCEPTIONS… That will bring this crap to a stop right now!!
And that’s for the first offense
Brriliant feds. They’re mad because he ignores what they tell him( don’t drive drunk and don’t drive with a suspended license) so their solution is to tell him not to drive anymore???
I’m sure he will pay close attention to THAT!???
That is what I was thinking Shawn.
Yes blame the government for this unfit driver but somebody was hiring this useless human and there were others, family, friends, and other truck drivers that knew that he was driving while intoxicated and said and did nothing. We need to get rid of these worthless drivers and the companies that hires them.
Do we know that he was a company driver?
Is it just me or are all the stories on here today poorly written and lacking pertinent information?
As you can see at the bottom of every blog post, we source information for these stories from several different news organizations. If there is information missing from the article, it’s likely because the information hasn’t been published anywhere.
Ideally, we’d have a full-time reporter tracking down the people involved in the stories, conducting interviews, and reviewing police and court documents. Realistically, that’s not within our resources as a blog and community forum. Even the full-time news organizations we sourced from did not use their resources to acquire the undefined information you feel was missing.
No Al, you’re seeing correctly. I too find the sheer lack of hard facts & solid information that pertains to the story astounding. How many times do we read a story about a “truck driver ” only to learn later it was a”pickup truck ” driver? The writers for this medium must be the same writers for Yahoo online news.
As you can see at the bottom of every blog post, we source information for these stories from several different news organizations. If there is information missing from the article, it’s likely because the information hasn’t been published anywhere.
Ideally, we’d have a full-time reporter tracking down the people involved in the stories, conducting interviews, and reviewing police and court documents. Realistically, that’s not within our resources as a blog and community forum. Even the full-time news organizations we sourced from did not use their resources to acquire the undefined information you feel was missing.
what about the companies he hauled for ? The article doesn’t say if he was an O/O or a company driver.If he was a company driver the people he worked for should be fined for letting him drive with a suspended license. I am no longer an O/O but a company driver and as an O/O I would never do anything this dumb. My company sends me for random drug and alcohol tests because they know I’ll pass. Haven’t had a drink in since ????and I have never done drugs . Ialmost a virgin .
I bet OOIDA doesn’t see a problem here.
OOIDA most certainly sees a problem with this! When did you ever read that OOIDA was in favor of unsafe drivers? They are against laws and regulations that are intrusive and fail to increase safety.
They are fighting eligibility so we need get all these fools who rewrite there log books to drive 48 hour or more without sleep off the road
And just what is going to keep this guy from getting back into a truck again.. AMERICA is so lucky that this bozo hasnt killed or hurt anybody so far.. It is very apparent that no law enforcement. Courts or government agency can keep this guy from driving and drinking.. This ticking time bomb will explode one day… Maybe have his picture in every truck stop, terminal, rest stop, etc with a 10,000 dollar reward so drivers will call and keep him off the road.. Will be the only way..
This Guy is a Bad example for the Rest of Us this just gave Police a reason to pull us over and what will now be a check for Alcohol……I’m not worried but it’s more headaches and delays But on a Bright Side this will either sober up the drivers or take em off the road entirely. 80,000 lbs MOVING @ 65 MPH DON’T NEED TO BE IN THE HANDS OF A DRUNK OR A WEED BURNER ! IF I CATCH YOU I’LL TURN YOU IN MYSELF ! BECAUSE YOUR AN IDIOT
You need to mind your own damn business and worry about your rig and your life. I have been burning trees going down the highway for a decade and have never been close to being in an accident. It actually enhances my senses and makes me pay closer attention to every little detail. The trips aren’t boring and my imagination runs wild
and have never been close to being in an accident. It actually enhances my senses and makes me pay closer attention to every little detail.
Says you. No, it is illegal to smoke weed and drive and I would turn you in.
I’ll bet this driver is laughing his ass off while he aims his 18-wheeler through the same town your wife drives in. I probably missed it, but if the idiot can’t control himself, he needs to be controlled. Eighty thousand pounds can hurt a lot of people quickly. The current rate of car/truck incidents is about 95% the car driver’s fault. We don’t need this jerk screwing up the average.
They don’t need to sale beer at truckstop or near them I seen Atlas an others take a case of beer into trucks close the curtains and do there things don’t know if Atlas fired the guy but I call in on him
Come on John! Back in the day that was legal to do. What a driver does behind the curtain or in the bunk is his own business. What he does on the HWY is a different story.
If you are parked for the night and get beer cool but if you drive away after drinking them, I would call on you.
This guy is a sick alcoholic and need help but as long as he owns a truck he will probably not stop until he is caught again and given years in prison and I pray he don’t take any of your family members life along the way
I didn’t read anything about if he is an O/O how come they didn’t revoke his vehicle license, or maybe he wasn’t anO/O.
So now this person ,will be mooching on an off ramp ,petty theft where home is .Broken family & signed up for the welfare dime !
There is no excuses of any sort for any driver to be rolling on these highways with alchol or drugs … they just make all look bad … any of our family’s can be killed by that idiot and ones like that driver…